SAULT STE. MARIE — After a grind-it-out first half, Grand Valley found the shooting range before Lake Superior State to take control in a GLIAC men's basketball game Thursday night.

Grand Valley shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half and downed Lake State 71-62.

"It seemed like we were always chasing them and that's a tough team to play that way against," Lake State coach Steve Hettinga said. "Every time we got close they would hit a three and pull away again. Our kids fought hard, but at the end of the day Grand Valley just played a little better than we did."

Kristers Zeidaks registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Ricardo Carbajal had 13 points and eight rebounds for GVSU (12-3, 9-2), which won its fourth straight game.

Grand Valley scored 50 points in the second half, its second-highest scoring half of the season.

"We felt very fortunate to get of here with the win," Grand Valley coach Ric Wesley said. "Lake State has really been playing well and they present some difficult matchups, particularly their two Dereks (Billing and Kinney). Coach Hettinga has done a great job and we know Lake State will compete their tails off whenever we come up here."

The game was tied a 21 at halftime. Ryan Sabin hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half and GVSU stayed in front most of the rest of the way. The game was tied at 34 after a fastbreak layup by LSSU's Williams with 13:59 remaining. But GVSU regained the lead for good on another 3-pointer by Sabin. Sabin finished with 11 points, all in the second half. Breland Hogan also had 12 points for GVSU.

Grand Valley held a 33-29 rebounding advantage, mostly due to the presence of 6-foot-5 235 pound Zeidaks, who hails from Riga, Latvia.

"Zeidaks and Carbajal really dug a lot of rebounds out of traffic," Wesley said. "We needed that because we were a little shorthanded due to some injuries."

LSSU shot 22-of-53 from the field (41.5 percent) and 6-of-16 from 3-point distance (37.5 percent). Lake State shot better in the second half (14-of-28) but it wasn't enough to match GVSU.

"They can play some great defense and limit what you do," Hettinga said. "We had some good looks at the basket, but didn't shoot it as well as we can. Especially early on, we didn't power it up like we could have on some shots, and then Grand Valley doesn't usually give up many second chances."